Art and Landscape: Buddhist Rock Sculptures of Late Antique Swat/Uddiyana

354 Pages·2015·165.291 MB·English

by  Anna Filigenzi

Archaeology has long since identified modern-day E A
N
P
Swat (North-West Pakistan) with ancient Ud . d . iyaˉna, Ā
A Y
known in the past as one of the most sacred lands I
C Ḍ
Ḍ
of Buddhism. The landscape of Swat, indeed, still S U
bears conspicuous traces of this. The profusion D T/
ISBN 978-3-7001-7241-3 N A
W
and splendour of monuments, which one can still
Printed and bound in the EU A S
easily imagine based on the ruins, and the luxuriant L E
U
beauty of the surrounding scenery provide eloquent Q
D
I
T
evidence of the fascination this land held all over the N N
A
ancient Buddhist world. A E
T AT
However, archaeology also reveals that in Swat R L
F
Buddhism was already on the wane before becoming A O
S
irrevocably overshadowed by Islam. Against this •E
R
back ground, an apparent anomaly is represented by I U
Z
T
the Buddhist rock sculptures that flourished in the N P
L
country in the seventh to eighth centuries. Buddha E U
C
G
and bodhisattva figures started populating numerous S
I K
paths leading to Buddhist sacred areas that in most L C
O
I
cases were already decayed if not abandoned. Due to F R
T
their unusual features, poor preservation state and A S
I
H
blurred cultural context, these sculptures have long N
D
N D
remained almost ignored or at least underestimated.
U
A
B
In fact, analytical study – based on nearly two hundred
specimens documented over the years by the Italian
Archaeological Mission in Pakistan – reveals that
the artistic value and theoretical foundations of
these sculptures are far more refined than we used
to believe. Thus they partly fill a void in the history
and, moreover, start reducing the distance between
the Ud . d . iyaˉna of the legend and the Ud . d . iyaˉna of real
life, where even long after the advent of Islam Tibetan
pilgrims came in search of the holy homeland of
Vajrayaˉna Buddhism and its apostles Indrabhuˉti and
Padmasambhava.
Anna Filigenzi is a researcher at the University of
Naples “L’Orientale”. Since 1984 she has been a ANNA FILIGENZI
member of the Italian Archaeological Mission in
Pakistan and since 2003 the director of the Italian ART AND LANDSCAPE
Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan. From 2010
to 2013 she held the FWF stand-alone project “The
cultural history of Ud . d . iyaˉna 4th to 8th century CE”, BUDDHIST ROCK SCULPTURES
hosted by the Austrian Academy of Sciences. She has
published extensively on Indian and Central Asian OF LATE ANTIQUE SWAT/UḌḌIYĀNA
archaeology and art history, the disciplines which are
also the subjects of her regular teaching activities. WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY LUCA M. OLIVIERI
AND A NOTE BY PETER ROCKWELL
Dph 462
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Anna Filigenzi
ART AND LANDSCAPE
Buddhist Rock Sculptures of Late Antique Swat/Uḍḍiyāna
ÖSTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
PHILOSOPHISCH-HISTORISCHE KLASSE
DENKSCHRIFTEN, 462. BAND
ÖSTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
PHILOSOPHISCH-HISTORISCHE KLASSE
DENKSCHRIFTEN, 462. BAND
AnnA Filigenzi
Art and Landscape
Buddhist Rock Sculptures of Late Antique Swat/Uḍḍiyāna
With contributions by lucA MAriA olivieri
And A note by Peter rockWell
Vorgelegt von w. M. Michael Alram in der Sitzung vom 15. Juni 2012
Veröffentlicht mit Unterstützung des
Austrian Science Fund (FWF): PUB 54-G21
Coverdesign: Anna Filigenzi and Alessandro Tomei
Drawings: Anna Filigenzi and Bernardo Velletri
Die verwendete Papiersorte ist aus chlorfrei gebleichtem Zellstoff hergestellt,
frei von säurebildenden Bestandteilen und alterungsbeständig.
Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
ISBN 978-3-7001-7241-3
Copyright © 2015 by
Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Satz: HAPRA GmbH, Puchenau
Druck und Bindung: Ferdinand Berger & Söhne Ges.m.b.H., 3580 Horn
http://epub.oeaw.ac.at/7241-3
http://verlag.oeaw.ac.at
Printed and bound in the EU
Filigenzi_Titelei_k.indd 4 08.04.2015 11:49:01
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................ 5
FOREWORD .................................................................................................................................................. 9
PREFACE .................................................................................................................................................... 11
ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 13
PART I ANALYTICAL STUDY
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 16
CHAPTER 1: A general overview ................................................................................................................ 19
1.1 – The distinctiveness of the Buddhist rock sculptures of Swat ......................................................... 19
1.2 – The subjects .................................................................................................................................... 20
1.3 – Sculptures, landscape and sacred topography ................................................................................. 24
1.4 – The hierophanic rock ...................................................................................................................... 27
1.5 – Svayaṃbhū tirtha: an Indian input? ................................................................................................ 28
CHAPTER 2: The “decline of Buddhism”: a new archaeological framework for cultural changes ............ 31
2.1 – Towards a new reading of conflicting sources ................................................................................ 31
2.2 – Buddhism and other religious cultures ........................................................................................... 31
2.3 – Culture of the valleys and culture of the mountains: the interaction between Buddhism and
“Kafir-Dardic” tribes ....................................................................................................................... 33
2.4 – Buddhism and Hinduism: archaeological evidence from the Śāhi period ...................................... 36
2.5 – The crisis of Udḍ ịyāna: facts and fancy .......................................................................................... 40
2.6 – Again Xuanzang and the archaeological portrait of his time .......................................................... 41
2.7 – Changing patterns: some indications from the archaeological record ............................................ 42
2.8 – Rock sculptures, ritual practices, and pilgrimage paths .................................................................. 47
2.9 – Politics, economy, market, and trade routes ................................................................................... 48
CHAPTER 3: The iconographic and stylistic language of the sculptures .................................................... 52
3.1 – The general characteristics of the iconography .............................................................................. 52
3.2 – The technical and stylistic characteristics: cross-comparisons between rock sculptures, bronze
sculptures and petroglyphs ............................................................................................................. 55
3.3 – Minimal iconographic units ............................................................................................................ 60
3.4 – The ardhaparyan˙kāsana ................................................................................................................. 61
3.5 – The thrones ..................................................................................................................................... 70
CHAPTER 4: Avalokiteśvara-Padmapānị .................................................................................................... 95
4.1 – Avalokiteśvara or the salvific sunbeam ........................................................................................... 95
4.2 – The Grace and the Self .................................................................................................................... 97
4.3 – The iconographic transposition ....................................................................................................... 99
4.4 – The push and the obstacle: the Tantric way to salvation .............................................................. 101
4.5 – God of the path: the iconographic synthesis of the rock sculptures ............................................. 104
CHAPTER 5: Maitreya ............................................................................................................................... 105
5.1 – The traditional type of iconography .............................................................................................. 105
5.2 – The iconographic innovations ....................................................................................................... 107
5.3 – Maitreya and Vajrapānị ................................................................................................................. 110
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Table of contents
5.4 – Maitreya and Mañjuśrī .................................................................................................................. 115
5.5 – Maitreya as custodian and successor ............................................................................................ 117
CHAPTER 6: The whispering of Vajrayāna ............................................................................................... 134
6.1 – The concealed presence of Vajrayāna ........................................................................................... 134
6.2 – A manifested Vajrayanic theme ..................................................................................................... 134
CHAPTER 7: The “alien” presences .......................................................................................................... 141
7.1 – The undecipherable plurality of forms .......................................................................................... 141
7.2 – The Durgā-like goddess ................................................................................................................ 141
7.3 – Sūrya and Ganẹ śa .......................................................................................................................... 144
7.4 – Tindo-dag and Barikot: sacred topography and political geography ............................................ 148
APPENDIX I: Graphic summary ................................................................................................................ 151
Distribution charts
Buddha figures
Avalokiteśvara-Padmapānị
Maitreya
Vajrapānị
Maitreya/ Vajrapānị
Mañjuśrī
Maitreya/ Mañjuśrī
siddha
Sūrya
Ganẹ śa
Sūrya and Ganẹ śa
gandharva/vidyādhara
APPENDIX II: Rock-cut carving and stelae in the Swat Valley: a commentary on the carving
technique by Peter Rockwell ................................................................................................................. 165
PART II THE CORPUS OF THE SCULPTURES
Catalogue and Photographic Documentation
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 174
The field research ................................................................................................................................... 174
Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... 176
Additional notes ..................................................................................................................................... 177
Map 1
Map 2
CATALOGUE ............................................................................................................................................. 181
1. Rock monuments in situ or of certain provenance (Table 1) ................................................................. 181
Mingora area .......................................................................................................................................... 181
Jambil Valley .................................................................................................................................... 181
Right bank ................................................................................................................................... 181
Mingora and Pānr (̣ AMSV 005, 006) ..................................................................................... 181
Dangram and Garasa (AMSV 007, 008) ................................................................................ 185
Kokarai sub-area (AMSV 009, 010, 011) .............................................................................. 187
Jambil (AMSV 012) ............................................................................................................... 189
Left bank ...................................................................................................................................... 190
Butkara (AMSV 013) ............................................................................................................. 190
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Table of contents
Arabkhan-china (AMSV 014) ................................................................................................ 191
Loebanr, Jurjurai and Arabut (AMSV 015, 016 and 017) ...................................................... 194
Saidu Valley ...................................................................................................................................... 198
Saidu Sharif area (AMSV 502) .............................................................................................. 198
Right bank ................................................................................................................................... 199
Boligram (AMSV 018) ........................................................................................................... 199
Salampur (AMSV 019) .......................................................................................................... 200
Supal-bandai (AMSV 020) ..................................................................................................... 201
Meragai (AMSV 392) ............................................................................................................ 202
Left bank ...................................................................................................................................... 203
Katelai (AMSV 021) .............................................................................................................. 203
Top-dara and Shandala (AMSV 022, 023) ............................................................................. 204
Shnaisha and Kukrai (AMSV 024, 025) ................................................................................ 204
Manglaor area ........................................................................................................................................ 207
Shaldara-tangai Valley ...................................................................................................................... 208
Dre-bandai (AMSV 026) ........................................................................................................ 208
Landai Valley .................................................................................................................................... 208
Rasho-dherai (AMSV 027) .................................................................................................... 208
Kalkata (AMSV 028) ............................................................................................................. 209
Banjot (AMSV 029) ............................................................................................................... 211
Ugad Valley ...................................................................................................................................... 212
Shakhorai (AMSV 030) .......................................................................................................... 212
Qal‘a (AMSV 031) ................................................................................................................. 214
Spinubo (AMSV 032) ............................................................................................................ 217
Mangaltan Valley .............................................................................................................................. 217
Zindwala (AMSV 033) ........................................................................................................... 217
Mangalkot (AMSV 503) ........................................................................................................ 217
Swat Valley ....................................................................................................................................... 218
Left bank ...................................................................................................................................... 218
Middle Swat (upper section) ..................................................................................................... 218
Jare (AMSV 034) ................................................................................................................... 218
Middle Swat (central section) ................................................................................................... 219
Bologram-Udegram and Gogdara (AMSV 035, 036) ............................................................ 219
Tindo-dag and Manyar area (AMSV 037, 038) ..................................................................................... 221
Tindo-dag ............................................................................................................................... 221
Manyar ................................................................................................................................... 223
Barikot (AMSV 26; in Olivieri and Vidale 2006: ‘002’) ...................................................... 224
a
Amluk-dara (AMSV 314) ...................................................................................................... 225
Nawe-kalai (AMSV 398) ....................................................................................................... 226
Right bank ....................................................................................................................................... 227
Middle Swat (central section) ................................................................................................... 227
Dodeharra (AMSV 039) ......................................................................................................... 227
Parrai (AMSV 040) ................................................................................................................ 227
2. Stelae of uncertain or unknown provenance (Table 2) .......................................................................... 228
Appendix ............................................................................................................................................... 234
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Middle Swat (lower section) ..................................................................................................... 234
Damkot (AMSV 041) ............................................................................................................. 234
Mane-tangai (AMSV 042) ...................................................................................................... 235
Buner ......................................................................................................................................... 235
Jowar area .............................................................................................................................. 236
Tangai (AMSV 043) ............................................................................................................... 236
Pacha area ............................................................................................................................... 236
Bhai (AMSV 044) .................................................................................................................. 236
Puran ......................................................................................................................................... 236
Bunerwal (AMSV 35) ............................................................................................................ 237
Kafir-dherai (AMSV 36) ........................................................................................................ 237
ILLUSTRATIONS PART II ........................................................................................................................ 239
TABLES OF CORRESPONDENCES ........................................................................................................ 316
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................... 323
Literary sources ...................................................................................................................................... 323
Analytical literature ................................................................................................................................ 324
ANALYTICAL INDEX .............................................................................................................................. 341
LIST OF FIGURES OF PART I ................................................................................................................ 349
LIST OF NEGATIVES OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF PART II .............................................................. 351
FOREWORD
The project that has given birth to this long-awaited volume has its roots in the very beginning of the Italian
activity in Swat. The first rock reliefs, not counting those introduced by Sir Aurel Stein, were in fact published
in 1958 by Giuseppe Tucci in his seminal Preliminary Report on an Archaeological Survey in Swat which
presented to the scholarly community the results of his survey of 1955.
Belonging to a late chronological horizon close to that of Padmasambhava, these Buddhist sculptures were
no doubt one of the reasons that led to IsMEO’s decision to invest efforts and resources in Swat.
The dates of arrival in the IsMEO photographic archive of images of rock reliefs from Swat gives a clear
idea of how since 1955 more than one generation of scholars has shown an interest in this class of artefacts, if
only in the shape of photographs and a few notes on the discovery of new reliefs: from the 1950s to the 1980s,
new records were accumulated by Domenico Faccenna, Francesca Bonardi, Maurizio Taddei, Alfredo Vallaz-
za, Pietro Guj, Enrico Cimmino, Umberto Scerrato, Francesco Noci and Pierfrancesco Callieri. In 1987, in his
capacity as director of the IsMEO Italian Archaeological Mission, Domenico Faccenna set up a comprehen-
sive project to survey and study these rock reliefs, entrusting its execution to Anna Filigenzi and Luca Maria
Olivieri, who had both recently joined the Mission. Anna Filigenzi had been one of the most brilliant students
of Maurizio Taddei at the Oriental University of Naples, while Luca Maria Olivieri was a graduate of the De-
partment of Historical, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences of the University of Rome La Sapienza.
The choice was intended to provide the study with a global approach in which the record of the topographical
context was accorded equal importance with the iconographic interpretation of the reliefs.
Since 1987 the systematic activity of surveying and recording carried out by Luca Maria Olivieri has made
considerable progress. Along with the main groups of reliefs already known, which were surveyed again using
a new and more thorough methodological approach, further complexes as well as isolated reliefs were iden-
tified and surveyed, and the area of research was extended to new areas adjoining Swat, in particular Puran
and Buner. The study of the topographical distribution of the reliefs has proved to be of the greatest interest,
suggesting new functional interpretations.
Most of the activity of survey and recording was completed in a relatively short space of time, as it was
merged with that undertaken for the project of the Archaeological Map of Swat. The long hiatus between that
period and this publication is due not only to the political events which have affected the recent history of Swat
but also to the reasons that Anna Filigenzi describes so effectively in her Preface and Introduction and which
allowed her to resist with incredible tenacity the continual requests from her Italian and foreign colleagues to
put the final results of her research at disposal of the scholarly community, given that various other publications
on the same subject had started to appear.
Now even Anna Filigenzi has concluded that the time is ripe for this publication, and we can be sure that
every possible attempt at interpreting this complex repertory of elegant yet enigmatic figures has been made,
yielding a satisfactory understanding of the complex codes of this fascinating visual language.
The publication came about as part of a stand-alone research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund
(FWF Project no. P 21902) that at Anna Filigenzi’s request was affiliated to the Numismatic Commission of
the Austrian Academy of Sciences (from 2013 the Working Group on Numismatics of the Documenta Antiqua
department at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Culture). Anna Filigenzi’s expertise has constituted a wel-
come addition to the research programme of the Numismatic Commission, particularly as one of the special
focuses of the numismatic research undertaken by the Commission has long concentrated on the coinage of the
so-called Iranian Huns in Bactria and India. It has provided the unique opportunity of subjecting the archaeo-
logical finds made by the Italian expeditions in Swat to a comparative analysis with the numismatic findings.
This scholarly discourse has proved to be exceptionally fruitful and has led to completely new perspectives for
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